It’s fitting a university that prides itself on being an “Everything School” shouldn’t be limited to only able-bodied sports.

Auburn’s expansion into adaptive sports like wheelchair basketball and tennis is bringing in a different kind of athlete down to the Plains, and inspiring the Auburn Family like never before.
It’s a dream long held by Robb Taylor, head coach of the wheelchair basketball team and leader of Auburn’s adaptive sports programs.

“Adding additional sports here at Auburn and giving athletes an opportunity to play the and get a degree at the same time is incredible,” said Taylor. “But then also, being able to expose the students, faculty and staff here to adapted sports, to competitive paralympic sports, is bigger than I really expected it to be when I first took over this job.”

Taylor knows a thing or two about competing at a high level. As the head coach of the U.S. Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team, he lead them to gold at the World Championships in June 2023, their first since 2002.

As one of only 11 U.S. universities and colleges with a competitive wheelchair basketball program, Auburn is fast becoming a major destination for players around the country looking to take their game to the next level.

“My approach isn’t any different than what BP [Bruce Pearl] does with his team, or what Coach [Johnnie] Harris does with her team—I’m just trying to get the best out of them, and do what we need to do in order to win,” said Taylor. “You’re not guaranteed to spot on the US team. You’re not even guaranteed to try out. But I will teach you the system, so if you are awarded the opportunity to try out, you’ll know what’s expected of you.”

An uncle with polio introduced Taylor to wheelchair basketball at an early age. Traveling with the team to tournaments around his native Chicago, his passion for the sport only intensified. As a student at the University of Illinois, the birthplace of wheelchair basketball, he volunteered with the team however he could.

“I started as the water boy, then the towel boy, and every morning I’d jump in a chair and scrimmage with the team just so we had enough guys to run the two full courts.”

As an assistant coach he was introduced to Ron Lykins, head coach for the U.S. national wheelchair basketball teams. He later joined Lykins’ staff for the women’s national team in 2002, and was an assistant coach on the team that won gold at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

After winning paralympic gold as assistant coach on the 2016 and 2020 men’s teams, Taylor was named head coach in January 2022 and will lead the team at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.

Auburn recruited Taylor to coach its wheelchair basketball program as well as grow adaptive sports on the Plains. Now in his eighth year, Taylor uses the school’s underdog status to incentivize new recruits.

“We don’t have national championships, but what we do have is a brand-new program. We’re laying the foundation for what we anticipate to be numerous national championships,” said Taylor. “You can just be a number at another university, or you can come to Auburn and help us create something that’s gonna be huge one day.”

The Auburn Family has passionately supported the wheelchair basketball off the court as well with funding for projects through Tiger Giving Day (TGD), Auburn’s annual day of giving.

Past projects have paid for equipment like a rebounding machine, raise scholarship money for new recruits, and upgrade the fan experience inside the Coliseum, the team’s home court. In 2021, TGD funds were used to get a specialized van to transport the wheelchair tennis team to tournaments, and last year they finished third at the 2022 USTA National Collegiate Wheelchair Championships in Orlando.

“Tiger Giving Day has really allowed us to establish ourselves on campus here, and prove to recruits that we have the full support of not just the university, but of donors and the Auburn Family. Because of that, we’ve been able to grow the programs that we offer in adapted sports.”

In addition to the steady growth of wheelchair tennis, Taylor said Auburn plans to start a Power Soccer team next year, and through donor support has already purchased the chairs and essential equipment for the program. Now, the parents of prospective students are asking if women’s wheelchair basketball, quad rugby, sit volleyball and other adaptive or paralympic sports are in Auburn’s future.

“Auburn is very inclusive and open to a lot of ideas. With the support of the university behind us, we can make all of our adaptive sports as successful as our able-bodied sports,” said Taylor. “We like to think that we’re part of that ‘#EverythingSchool’ as well.”